Vancouver to Astoria
Day 0
Yesterday I forgot my helmet at my parent’s house. Today I got shit on by a bird, left my backpack (containing my wallet, phone, camera, and passport) on a street corner for just long enough to give myself a heart attack, and had to to bend the crap out of my new rack with an antique tablesaw to make it fit. Did I mention it rained all day? Off to a good start.
Day 1 - April 5th, 2017
I woke up at my sister’s place in Vancouver and gave myself 4 hours to ride roughly 50 km to the ferry terminal. Ample time, right? 10 km in the wrong direction into a headwind later and I barely made the ferry. Did I mention it rained all day? My friend Austin picked me up on the other side and I spent the night at his place in Victoria.
Day 2
I took the 10:30AM ferry from Victoria and arrived in Port Angeles around noon. After picking up supplies I headed down the highway toward Seattle. The weather was great and I found a beautiful campsite off of a logging road near Discovery Bay.
Day 3 & 4
It started raining during the night and was forecasted to rain all day. By the time I packed up I was soaked and I spent the rest of the day pedaling in nearly non-stop rain with Subway bags on my feet. My dainty programmer legs were dying and the pace dropped significantly from the previous days. My trail mix diet due to the lack of gas stations didn’t improve the mood much.
After being nearly blown off a couple bridges I finally made it to Bainbridge Island and took the ferry to Seattle, where I met up with Austin and Levi. We spent the next day exploring the city and drinking too many beers in not enough alleyways.
Day 5
After a late night I took the 12:30PM ferry from Seattle to Bremerton and then pedaled down to Shelton. I arrived at dusk and elected to sleep under a gazebo in a public park. The weather was beautiful today.
Day 6
I was awoken at the crack of dawn by the groundskeeper kicking me out of the park. I enjoyed a horrific gas station breakfast then pedaled off to Elma. It rained most of the way to Elma and I was feeling crappy but I decided to push on to Centralia when I saw that it was mostly flat. I made it to town in the early afternoon and found a nice stealthy campsite in the woods near the highway. The weather had finally cleared up and I took opportunity to wash my wet, stinky clothes and stuff my face with Chinese food.
Day 7
I left Centralia with sunny skies and a beautiful view of Mt. Rainier and headed toward Longview. This was easily the most beautiful scenery of the trip thus far. The rest of Washington has been largely rock walls and logged out forests. I arrived in town just as it started to rain and took refuge in the local Walmart. I wasn’t feeling particularly ambitious so I set up my tent in the bushes behind Walmart, downed a shameful amount of chocolate milk, and passed out.
Day 8 & 9
I awoke to the sound of trucks unloading at Walmart. It began to rain as I packed up and it really started to pour as I crossed the bridge over the Columbia River. The bridge was packed full of logging trucks, with narrow shoulders covered in 4++ inches of tree debris. This was hands down the most terrifying moment so far but I was pretty proud to see the Welcome to Oregon sign. There were a couple bigger climbs (followed by glorious long descents) and it rained on and off for most of the day, but I made it into Astoria in the early afternoon.
I am being hosted here in Astoria by Steve, who I found on Warmshowers. Steve is a super cool, cycle-crazed, deadhead hippie, who also happens to run a successful software company in Silicon Valley. I am taking a rest day here in Astoria before I set off down the coast tomorrow.
